I was at the funeral of my dearest friend-my mother. She finally had lost her long battle with cancer. The hurt was so intense; I found it hard to breathe at times. Always supportive, Mother clapped loudest at my school plays, held the box of tissues while listening to my first heartbreak, comforted me at my father's death, and prayed for me my entire life
When mother's illness was diagnosed, my sister had a new baby and my brother had recently married his childhood sweetheart, so it fell on me the 27-year-old middle child, to take care of her. I counted it an honor. My place had been with our mother, preparing her. meals, taking her to the doctor, reading the Bible together. Now she was in heaven. My work was finished, but I was alone
Deep in sorrow, suddenly, I heard a door open and slam shut at the back of the church. Quick footsteps hurried along the carpeted floor. A young man looked around briefly and then sat next to me. He folded his hands and placed them on his lap. His eyes started to be filled with tears.
"I’m late”, he explained, though no explanation was necessary."
After several eulogies(悼词), he leaned over and commented, "Why do they keep calling Mary by the name of Margaret?
"Because, that was her name, Margaret. Never Mary.” I whispered, wondering who the stranger was anyway.
"Isn't this the Lutheran church?"
"No, the Lutheran church is across the street."
"I believe you're at the wrong funeral, Sir."
The solemnness (庄重) of the occasion mixed with the realization of the man's mistake bubbled up inside me and came out as laughter: Sharp looks from other mourners(x # 4) only made the situation seem more stupid. I peeked at the confused, misguided man seated beside me. He was laughing too, as he glanced around, deciding it was too late for an uneventful exit. I imagined Mother laughing.
At the final 'Amen, we rushed out a door and into the parking lot. "I do believe we'll be the talk of the town. By the way, my name is Rick. he smiled
That afternoon began a lifelong journey for me with this man who attended the wrong funeral, but was in the right place. A year after our meeting, we were married at a country church. This time we both arrived at the same church, right on time.
In my time of sorrow, God gave me laughter. In place of loneliness, God gave me love. This past June, we celebrated our twenty-second wedding anniversary. whenever anyone asks us how we met Rick tells them, Her mother and my Aunt Mary introduced us, and it's truly a match made in heaven
1.Only author could take care of her mom mainly because________.
A.she was the only child in the family
B.a lovely baby came into her brother’s family
C.she was the only child without a new family’s burden
D.her mom loved her much more than other children
2.What can we infer from the passage?
A.The author and Rick met 22 years ago for the first time
B.The author was supposed to have been in Lutheran Church
C.Margaret should be the name of Rick’s aunt.
D.The mourners considered the author’s joy improper.
3.What could be the best title of the passage?
A.Hope Remaining at the Funeral
B.A Heavenly Encounter
C.Two Funerals at One Time
D.Seeking God's Everlasting Love
If you examine the birth certificate of every soccer player in the last Word Cup tournament, you will most likely find the excellent players were born in the earlier months of the year. If you then examine the European national youth teams that feed the World Cup, you will find this phenomenon even more _______ .
What might account for this strange phenomenon? Some guess a certain astrological sign(星座) _________superior soccer skills; others maintain that winter-born babies have higher oxygen capacity which increases soccer stamina(it t ).But Anderson Ericsson, a 58-year-old professor who is called the expert on experts, believes in neither. His first experiment, nearly 30 years ago, involved _______ training a person to hear and repeat a random series of numbers. "With the first subject after 20 hours of training, his digital span rose to 20, Ericsson recalls, "and after about 200 hours of training he could repeat up to 80 numbers
This success, coupled with later research showing memory itself is not _______ determined, led Ericsson to conclude that the act of memorizing is a cognitive( i in a) exercise, which means whatever inborn differences two people may exhibit in their abilities to memorize, those differences are _________ by how well each person encodes the information. And the best way to learn how to encode information meaningfully, Ericsson determined, was a process known as _________ practice. It involves more than simply repeating a task _______ playing a C-minor scale 100 times hitting tennis serves until your shoulder pops out of its socket. _______ it involves stepping outside your comfort zone, setting specific and well-defined goals, focusing on _______ areas of expertise, obtaining immediate feedback from professionals and concentrating as much on technique as on outcome.
Ericsson and his colleagues have thus taken to studying high achievers in a wide range of ________ including soccer, golf, chess, piano playing and darts. They gather all the data they can and make a rather shocking statement: the trait we commonly call talent is highly ________, And yes, expert performers are nearly always made.
Ericsson’s formula seems appealing to many tiger parents: "practice makes perfect" is naturally ________ to genetic determinism. By________ innate ability as insignificant, many are confident they can make a concert-level pianist or an Olympic figure skater of their kids as long as they push them hard enough. Ericsson, ________ believes what parents should learn from the science of expertise is not the effect of logging thousands of hours, but how to get kids to. ________ the importance and challenge of effective practice
1.A.understandable B.misleading C.appealing D.noticeable
2.A.promises B.improves C.compromises D.masters
3.A.numbers B.subjects C.memory D.practice
4.A.physically B.genetically C.fundamentally D.psychologically
5.A.overshadow B.demonstrated C.strengthened D.produced
6.A.enormous B.deliberate C.desperate D.persistent
7.A.on average B.more importantly C.for instance D.in particular
8.A.Besides B.Nevertheless C.Therefore D.Rather
9.A.various B.comprehensive C.targeted D.minor
10.A.pursuits B.occupations C.performances D.assumptions
11.A.underestimate B.overrated C.flexible D.demanding
12.A.equal B.inferior C.preferable D.beneficial
13.A.dismissing B.lacking C.recognizing D.highlighting
14.A.likewise B.therefore C.besides D.however
15.A.study B.practice C.reflect D.embrace
Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to. make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.
It is a rough world out there. Step outside of a shopping mall and you could break your leg 1.(slip)on the doormat. Luckily, if the doormat failed to warn of coming danger, a successful lawsuit(官司) might compensate you for your troubles. Since the early 1980s, juries have begun holding more companies responsible for the customers' misfortunes.
Feeling threatened, companies responded by writing longer warning labels, trying to anticipate every possible accident. Today, even ladders carry a label several inches long that 2.(warn) among other things, that you might fall off. While warnings are often necessary for companies, many still feel uncertain whether those labels can protect 3. from legal responsibility if a customer is injured. Actually, about 50% of the companies lose when 4.(take) to court by the injured customer.
Now the tide appears to be turning 5. personal injury claims continue to grow, some courts are beginning to side with defendants(被告), especially in cases6. a warning label probably wouldn't have changed anything. In May, Julie Nimmons, president of Schutt Sports successfully fought a lawsuit7.(involve)a footballer who was paralyzed (t )in a game while wearing a Schutt helmet. " We are really sorry he has become paralyzed, 8. helmets aren't designed to prevent those kinds of injuries, "says Nimmons. The jury finally agreed that the nature of the game, not the helmet, was the reason for the injury. Meanwhile, the American Law Institute, a group of judges and lawyers, issued new guidelines stating that companies needn't warn customers of obvious dangers or annoy them with a lengthy list of possible ones 9.information won't get buried in a sea of trivialities ( 琐事). If the moderate end of the legal community has its way, the information on products might actually be provided for the benefit of customers and not10. a protection against legal responsibility.
假定你是校排球队队长李华。请写封邮件告知你的队友Chris球队近期将参加比赛，内容包括:
1. 比赛信息；
2. 赛前准备；
3. 表达期待。
注意:
1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
My trip to London during my last summer holiday, when could be one of the most unforgettable travel experience of my life, lasted three weeks. It was my first time to staying in a foreign country alone. In the fact, I went there to study in a summer school, but I really learned something about the lifestyle and culture of Britain. In addition, I made friends with students from differently countries. We introduced the customs of our own countries each other. 1 learned such much from them. They helped us know more about other countries. Since then, I had kept in touch with my friends over the Internet.
阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
Nelson Mandela is a great man. The black people in South Africa are grateful to 1.(he) for what he did.
At one time black people were not treated equally. It was not easy for them to find a good job and many families were too poor to afford their children’s 2.(educate). In 1952 Mandela set up a law office to help the poor black people 3.trouble. It was with his guidance that those4.lost heart in life became 5. (hope) about their future. As 6.matter of fact, it was Mandela’s dream to help black people get the same rights7.white people. However, the government was so angry with him that he 8.(sentence) to prison for life on Robben Island for being one of the ANC leaders. He was released in 1990 and was voted President of South Africa in 1994. Now black people in his country live a much9.(good) life than before.
Mandela devoted all his life to 10. (improve)the life of the black in South Africa.
